St Andrew's Church

Summary

A church of 1881 by J H Spencer, extended in 1893 by Edmund Buckle.

Reasons for Designation

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION :
The Church of St Andrew, Taunton, by J H Spencer and Edmund Buckle, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Design interest: the church is a strong composition with a good quality interior, with dramatic spatial handling and attention to detail;
* Fixtures and fittings: the church retains a good set of high quality fixtures, fittings, furnishings and stained glass.
* Intactness: since the works of the 1890s, the church has remained little altered, and new work which has taken place is of good quality.

History

St Andrew's Church was built between 1879 and 1881 at the expense of Revd Frederick Jeremiah Smith, who donated £3,000 for the building of the church as a gesture of thanksgiving for the country having avoided the Balkan conflict of 1876-8. The architect was J H Spencer, and the church was consecrated in July 1881.

The church served a rapidly expanding area of Taunton which soon became known as the 'Railway Parish'. As a result of this expansion, the church's 500 seats were found to be inadequate, and in 1893 the church was extended by Edmund Buckle. A new south aisle was built with a new Lady Chapel, the east end of the chancel was extended and a narthex was built at the west end of the church. The main structure of the church has remained largely unaltered since this time.

Details

A church of 1881 by J H Spencer, extended in 1893 by Edmund Buckle.

MATERIALS: it is built of Westleigh stone with mostly tile roofs, including some modern concrete tiles. The spire is roofed in slate.

PLAN: the church is aligned east-west and comprises a nave with north and south aisles, and a south tower with a splay-footed spire.

EXTERIOR: the main entrance to the church is located in the single storey narthex extension to the west end of the church, through timber doors in a moulded stone surround with cornice and blocking course above, surmounted by a stone cross. The adjacent south aisle is of five bays, each with large six-light windows with paired sexfoil openings above, and a continuous hoodmould and stringcourse along the elevation. The walls are of snecked rubbled stone with ashlar blocking course above. There is a further door in a gabled projection with a two-light pointed window above, and beyond this the Lady Chapel exterior is of two storeys with buttresses, with two windows and a door at ground floor level and two windows to the chapel above with Geometric style tracery.

In the western elevation, the single storey narthex has square headed mullioned windows. The main church elevation above has large, three-light windows with Reticulated style tracery in the gables of the nave and the south aisle, that to the nave has a sexfoil opening above it. The north aisle has three-light windows along its elevation, with clerestory windows lighting the nave above.

The eastern elevation has a large gable to the chancel, with a five-light traceried east window. There is a smaller, four-light window to the Lady Chapel. A continous stringcourse and hoodmould is stepped up to the east window. Between these windows a mullion and transom window lights a staircase within, and there is a further two-light window to the north of the elevation. There is a row of square-headed windows at the lower level.

INTERIOR: the church is entered through doors from the narthex extension, and there are pews with plain ends throughout the nave and aisles. The nave is divided from the aisles by arcades of pointed arches on brick piers, with polychrome decoration throughout. There is a tall, king-post roof above the nave of thick, chamfered timbers with stencilled decoration to the boarding between the rafters. The large chancel arch has an oak screen, erected in 1919 as a First World War memorial, with names inscribed of the fallen of the parish. The chancel contains carved choir stalls and an organ of 1883. The south wall of the chancel has three cusped windows in pointed arch surrounds with Byzantinesque capitals with deeply carved biblical scenes, and gates below giving access to the stair to the lower level beyond. The east window, with similar capitals, has stained glass by Lavers and Westlake illustrating the 'Te Deum'. There is timber panelling to the walls, and an aumbry and piscina in the south wall, with uncarved hoods above.

The north aisle has a lean-to timber roof, and contains rows of pews with a stair to the lower level and the vestry at its eastern end. At the western end is the 'Railway Window' of 2002 by Clare Maryan Green, commemorating the role of the railway in the development of the parish.

The original south aisle is enclosed by the later extension, and there is a further arcade of pointed arches which divide the two; this arcade has circular piers of stone. The carved alabaster font is located at the western end of the original south aisle. The south aisle extension, with polychromy brickwork in the same style as the original building, has a tall timber roof and at its western end is the original east window, with stained glass by Hardman from 1881. Towards the west end is a carved timber lectern, and the font of 1912 by Bridgeman and Son of Lichfield.

At the eastern end of the south aisle extension is a pointed arch, with diaper pattern brickwork above, beyond which are the side entrance doors and the original external wall of the tower. The Lady Chapel beyond is enclosed by a carved timber screen, itself enclosed by a modern glazed screen, and contains a carved timber reredos and a small aumbry.

The lower level of the church consists of a wide corridor with timber cupboards and a shallow barrel-vaulted ceiling, with parish office with a separate external access.


This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Register. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 16 August 2017.

Sources

Websites
War Memorials Register, accessed 16 August 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/72668

Other
St Andrew's Church Taunton: a Short Guide to Our Church (October 2015)

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

Print the official list entry